For nearly two years, the United Nations has emboldened Hamas terrorists and failed to hold them accountable for crimes against humanity, including weaponizing sexual violence and kidnapping and torturing civilian hostages. Now world leaders are gathering at the U.N. General Assembly High-Level Week, during which they will vote on a resolution to recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally without direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians.

Countries supporting this approach should think twice before formally endorsing it. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have walked away from every attempt to foster peace, instead choosing terror, kidnapping and rape. Acting unilaterally on Palestinian statehood will undermine peace and effectively sanction these horrific actions. It sends a message to Hamas and other terrorist groups worldwide that killing, kidnapping and raping innocent civilians will be rewarded in the long run.

Peace between Israel and its neighbors has long been a foreign policy goal of the United States and countries around the world and American leadership has helped broker important agreements. Yet the P.A. has rejected every attempt to create a lasting peace, including the Camp David Summit in 2000, the 2008 realignment plan and the 2014 John Kerry initiative.

Hamas has followed suit. In the two years since Oct. 7, 2023, the group has repeatedly walked away from the negotiating table in violation of ceasefire agreements and still refuses to discuss the release of the remaining 48 hostages, who include two Americans.

Let us be clear on what happened on that terrible day: Hamas terrorists, who oppose Western democracy and democratic values like religious tolerance and individual rights, invaded Israel, brutally killing 1,200 citizens; wounding 5,400 more; raping and otherwise sexually assaulting untold numbers of men, women and girls; and kidnapping 250 people and dragging them into captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Less than half of the last 48 hostages are believed to be alive. Those individuals continue to be held in inhumane conditions and subject to brutal treatment. Released hostages have shared stories of sexual abuse, starvation and mutilation. U.N. leaders have failed to do anything to help, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has yet to visit the hostages to check on their well-being and provide them with medication.

Hamas and the P.A.—with support from Iran, China and Russia—are not seeking peace and democracy through their continued push for U.N. resolutions that attempt to strip Israel of its right to self-defense and make excuses for Hamas. Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat attacks like Oct. 7 until Israel is destroyed.

Unilateral action by the world body to recognize a Palestinian state nearly two years into a brutal conflict is a grave mistake that directly undermines ongoing negotiations to free the hostages and bring lasting peace to the Middle East.

The United Nations has taken small steps to acknowledge some of Hamas’s most egregious acts; however, it has yet to take any action to hold Hamas accountable.

This year’s Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Report of the U.N. Secretary-General finally listed Hamas as a party credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence. As the national president of Hadassah, a global humanitarian organization whose members have been tirelessly advocating to hold Hamas accountable, this is a critical first step. Nevertheless, extreme antisemitism and anti-Israel bias run rampant in Turtle Bay.

A recent report of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry, whose leaders have repeatedly and publicly made antisemitic remarks, distorts reality to rationalize Hamas’s crimes and vilify Israel. U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees, who are meant to aid Palestinians, exploited the agency’s funds to aid and, in some cases, directly assisted Hamas terrorists during Oct. 7, including by participating in the killing, kidnapping and brutalizing of Israeli citizens.

Countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, the members of the European Union and Canada, have sanctioned Hamas for its assault against Israel on Oct. 7 and its weaponization of sexual violence. These countries recognize how horrific the atrocities by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists were that day, and how rape was weaponized that day. And still, many are now poised to vote for a plan that will hand victory to Hamas, condone their heinous acts and embolden bad actors around the world to engage in terrorism and crimes against humanity.

It is heartening to hear leaders from the United States speak out against the dangerous and irreversible consequences of the proposed unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Other countries should re-evaluate their support for this measure, especially in light of the message it sends to terrorist groups around the world.

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